Monday, September 6, 2010

On a Lighter Note

I went to Fahaheel! I had a lovely time there at Al Kut Mall. It's a big mall with two sides- a sea side & inland with a bridge to connect the two. One thing I noticed about this mall, was that there were prayer rooms for men & women, next to the restrooms. It's wild to see that a public place like that provides a religious outlet for prayer. After the mall I crossed a busy street to the bazaars and I got 3 head scarves!

To a Christian Westerner that may seem odd to you. Not all women have their heads covered, obviously most do. And the young women wear it so fashionably! These girls have such classy taste! For conservative garments, there sure are lots of sytlish outfits! Anyway, though I want to wear a head scarf for fashion reasons, I also want to be blend in better....in a way, to place myself in their culture and not set myself apart. To better understand the women maybe? Now I just have to figure out how to wear them with the pretty decorated border showing.

Ramadan is almost over! You know how grocery stores in the states have a Deli, a bakery, a fish/meat/poultry and produce section? Well here in Kuwait they also have a Nut, cheese, and olive section. Nuts & dates are popular ingredients for their sweets that are given to each other as gifts. Dates aren't bad tasting....just REALLY sweet. One thing I have noticed about their food is that it's really salty- at least the cheeses and nuts.

However, Kuwait has a plethora of fine dining cuisine- both high class & corner shwarma restaurants like Kurdos. One thing, however, that has dissappointed me is the authentic Middle Eastern food. I've eaten Persian food & Lebanese foods here, including typical Arab Kebabs that I THOUGHT were chunks of grilled meat rather than a mush of meat put together and formed into a long piece of meat. I've had WAY better Arab food in American than here. I haven't had falafels yet....in the states I'm very picky about falafels because I've some amazing ones and some gross ones. Still though, I have learned that if I want the type of Kebab I got in the states I have to make sure I order grilled chicken or beef.

Kuwait has amazing juice bars. They literally make all forms of fruit juices fresh. My favorite place is called Star Juice. INCREDIBLE!!!

Now that I'm working night shifts, I can feel the temps changing. It's getting darker sooner and cooler at night. Apparently in September it gets really humid....as if it can get ANY MORE HUMID in Salmiya by the Persian Gulf LOL!

As for the driving here in Kuwait, I've seen with my own eyes at almost EVERY intersection, people run red lights. In one instance, a car kept flashing their lights and beeping at the car in front of them to run the light because they wanted to run it. CRAZY!